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“Exactly! He’s a Naoki. There has to be another way to find out where they are hiding. Besides, he would never give up his father. Hell, I bet that after everything, he’s even working with him.” I couldn’t make heads or tails of this conversation, and Matt clearly didn’t care for it, given his rough and low tone mixed with his rush to dismiss it. “Anyway, it’s time for dessert. Jax Naoki is out of the question.”
Chapter 26
Matt
After they all left, I sat on the crunching bench in the small improv gym we had set up in the spare room. I let my head fall back, cracking my neck as I took a generous puff out of my cigarette, letting the bitterness slowly fade away into the smoke. But thought after thought crept into my mind, invading me in waves of anger, resentment, and thirst for revenge.
I had managed to subdue them over the years, but all it took was the mention of that son of a bitch for all of it to resurface.
“Hey! Are you okay?” Francesca’s arms crawled over my chest before her voice broke the silence, her chin resting on top of my head.
“Yeah, fine. With all that food, I just needed some help to digest.” I said, motioning to the cigarette between my fingers.
“Well, I’m going to bed now. Just saying, in case you want to join me.” I felt her lips on the crown of my skull before she turned to leave.
“I’ll be there in a minute.” I barely whispered, still staring into the darkness.
I knew what she meant by those words, but I was in a dark place tonight, with thoughts of the past swimming in my mind. I couldn’t block them out, and I certainly couldn’t block the anger and rage they brought along with them.
I stood up and wrapped my knuckles and wrists with thick hand wrap. I needed to physically exorcise this out of me. There was a reason I kept that fucker tightly locked and in a very far compartment of my mind.
SMACK!
I hit the punching bag with all my strength as if it had his face on it. Punch after punch, as I bounced around it for the best angle to strike as hard as I could. The force of the blows increasing as I unwillingly reminisced.
I hated the thought that going to that backstabbing mother fucker was the only choice to ease my mind and end this problem once and for all. It couldn’t be the only solution. It might be an easy way out, but I was feeling that it was more like a fucking trap.
SMACK!
I knew he hated me after everything that happened between our families, and especially after all the months his father spent in recovery. He held a tight grudge against me, and I wasn’t even to blame.
We had gone on a small road trip, just over the weekend during Spring Break, when he found out his father was in the hospital. It was just the two of us and our girlfriends at the time.
We left campus on a Thursday night and planned on driving without a destination, possibly finding a nice place to stay along the way.
SMACK! SMACK!
We had stopped for a piss in the middle of fucking nowhere when he got the call about his father. At the time he was rushed into surgery, they didn’t know if he would make it. But hey, those who play with fire get fucking burnt. And that’s exactly what happened.
However, he blamed me. He just went berserk and came on, full-force attacking me. We both tumbled to the ground while the girls watched from the car, not understanding what the hell was happening.
Fuck, I wasn’t getting it, either!
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
He kept yelling and punching me as I blocked his fist with my own, blow after blow. I yelled back, trying to get him to fucking calm down and tell me what the hell was happening, but he just kept going. I tried not to respond, but he was making it near impossible.
With a straight punch to the nose followed by a jab, I had him on the floor. I broke his nose, a dam of warm blood flowing freely down his chin.
He was my best friend.
Fuck, the one friend I ever had.
The only one outside the family who truly knew what and who we were. I trusted him with my fucking life, and he didn’t even wait to hear anything I had to say.
SMACK! SMACK!
He got up from the floor, cleaning his bloody mouth with his sleeve before he took off straight to the car.
